The US is trying to deceive the world on Iran’s nuclear program by making it appear that the program has objectives beyond civilian ones, said Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Mohammad-Javad Zarif today.

He told PBS TV that Washington’s repetition of accusations on different occasions is intended to portray Iran as having objectives other than peaceful ones in its nuclear porogram, Zarif said.

He once again stressed that Tehran’s nuclear activities were entirely for peaceful purposes adding “Iran has presented various proposals including technical, legal, political and supervisory mechanisms in order to prove its nuclear program is for civilian purposes.”

He said “Our history proves that in the past 250 years we have not attacked any country but have been attacked by others .. Chemical weapons have been used against us and we just defended ourselves. We did not even used chemical weapons in retaliation.”

On the other hand, the envoy said, Israel “has a track record of invading its neighbors, is known to possess a nuclear arsenal and continues to resist membership in the international treaty.” “Can the US or Israel, following Iran, say under oath that they have not attacked or threatened any country and would not do so in the future?,” he asked.

As for the previously announced Tehran-Washington talks, Zarif said Iran had “positively responded to the US call for bilateral talks on ways to help the Iraqi people achieve stability in their war-torn country,” adding that the call had the support also of senior Iraqi officials.

Zarif, alluding to the cancellation of the talks, said it was not clear “why US had changed its approach after Tehran said it was ready to enter into talks with Washington on Iraq.” “This will prove that they (US authorities) were not serious in their desire to hold talks as can be gleaned in their making the conditions difficult for negotiation,” Zarif said.